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So Many ?s

Why not contact a charity and see if you can interest them in the concept of as you travel, have planned stops where local radio stations let their listeners know that you will be stopping by to collect (whatever.. canned goods, clothes, Christmas presents for children of the troops in Iraq, etc etc)... The radio stations may participate on the basis of getting a write off, you could attract more interest from sponsors looking for exposure knowing this will be advertised on the bus as well as the radio stations..

In terms of the goods collected, you can schedule pick up from the charity and not have to actually *handle* the goods..

I would think companies that spend big bucks like *Lending Tree* for example would love the nationwide exposure...

There is no way you can reach 2 million people, which would be 0.6% of US population, unless you don`t plan to drive on free way.

Using your San Diego Zoo example, if the zoo is packed, do you really think there is a thing as "visible location"? Well, you will be visible to maybe to the 30% area behind you. If someone packed on the same row as you, your vehicle will be blocked from his view. If someone packed in front of you, he will not notice you because he will only care about going toward the zoo gate. I don`t know the parking lot layout at SD zoo, but my guess is that you will be seen by 100 to 500 people, at most.

Or, let`s use your Mall of America example. You will be luck if you are seen by 1% of the shop goers! At the parking for ANY mall, there is no way I would notice a car, no matter how fancy the color is, unless I walk directly by it.

I plan on going cross country (all 48 states) next summer in a 35` school bus. But instead of just driving and paying for all of that gas I figured, "I bet someone would greatly benefit from the exposure of advertising on the bus" So I have begun the arduous task of trying to find companies that are willing to advertise .... well willing to talk to me about advertising on the bus. I realize that the program would have some draw backs including the fact that it isn`t something long term, but at the same time I will be able to offer the company advertising where no other company can (ie state parks, monuments, large attractions....). So my questions are:

Who do I write in a company to get a response?What should I include in my letter?What is a reasonable price to ask?Should I get 2 companies to joint advertise?How would I go about getting 2 companies to joint advertise?What is the meaning of life?

Answer 1 question and you will be happy for a day, answer 2 questions and you will find true love, answer 3 questions..... Just kidding anyone with input please help!

I`ve figured out all of the milage between the places we intend to go and it is aprox 10,500 miles (we figure 12,000 with deviations) and that would come to anywhere from $4500 plus or minus for gas costs. The only thing that I can find similar to what I am doing is people on ebay trying to sell advertising space on their car while they drive from LA to Orlando, or something of the like. On the other hand there are quite a few sites touting "Mobile Billboards" that are akward looking vehicles that travel within the city limits with advertisments along the sides of them. I found one helpfull site that listed the number of people they expected to reach any said day traveling 20-30 mins within the city, loosely based on the MSA of that city. Using that as a template of sorts, I figured we would be seen by very easily 2million+ people on the trip. Another idea I got from these people is to somehow incorporate GPS or allow the inclusion of a GPS device on the bus itself for advertisers to see where their money is and what exposure it would be getting. We already have our route laid out with the places we intend to stay at each location, so there is no problem on that note (we also made sure each one offered our hookups and size.) We are 8 friends planing on taking this trip for the sole reason of experience, we all realize that there are 2 times in life when the average person can take a trip like this and the other time is during retirement. Just think of asking off for 7 weeks at whatever job you are at now. So the reasons we are going are I guess selfish but this shouldn`t make a difference to the advertiser other than not being able to say they are giving to charity. In the PR kit that I obviously need to send out, I was thinking of including a penny in the kit and state that "For one penny you can tell one person about your product" then play on the fact that the penny is the most circulated coin by saying something like "How many will this penny effect?" all of this would of course be referencing the 2million people reached and the $20,000 or so invested in the actual bus wrap and fee. Any thoughts?

The figures came from what mobile billboard companies use as a reference to show customers the number of people they reach just by traveling aprox 30mins through the cities that were listed. Sooo.... I took those numbers for the cities that we would be spending more than an hour in or around. Plus there is the fact that we will not be going the speed limit, as our wonderfull bus is geared out at 62 mph. Also we will be stoping at major attractions almost every day.

Example:We are spending a day at the San Diego Zoo and a day at the San Diego Wild park. "During the summer, ten to fifteen thousand people visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park every day" http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/sandiego/a/sdwildan.htmthat is the less popular destination of the 2. Going by the average crowds and assuming we park in a visible location, if even half of those people see the bus at the park alone (not counting going around the city to the park, elsewhere to get food, to the water, or to tijuana) we will have 20,000+ people (able to) see us there alone. So granted the 2 million figure may be slightly bloated based on driving through the cities alone. We are having t-shirts made of the event, and if we do find a sponsor we would all be fine with adding it to the shirts. So once we get to the places we will still be promoting the trip. 100,000 people visit mall of america daily. 24,000 people would easily see us the 2 days we are there. I realize not everyone that would possibly see us or be within eyeshot of us will fully realize the campaign we run, but there is a great potential for product placement and that is what I hope to tap into. I stumbled upon this website doing the research I thought necessary to approach a company willing to do this kind of advertising. So if anyone has any more information reguarding such please let me know.

Still working on a package to send to those I can get ahold of so I`ll make sure to let you know when I am finished. As far as how many people see the ads, it is up in the air... I have tried to find as much as I can to help figure out the numbers but other than people`s guestimates there is nothing statistical I can find to say one way or another. True, I don`t pay any attention to cars as I walk by them either... if there was a bus with a full skin ad parked as I was driving in I would definately take notice, but that is just me. With the shirts I expect to get a lot more circulation than just a static bus in the parking lot as well. I`ll keep you guys posted.

I have been thinking how much fun it would be to supply some of my products to people traveling by RV, car or boat. Updates of such travels, preferably on a blog, would include references to the product. It could be relatively simple, as suggested, or more complex, like wheresgeorge.com. Feel free to email me for further discussion if this idea appeals to you.